The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and do not necessarily constitute prior art.
Recently, home networks are established to enable interconnections and integral management of various devices installed in customer premises such as a PC, a TV, a set-top box, a mobile device, an audio system, an air conditioner, a boiler, lights, a gas valve and a front door.
As a protocol for standardization related to sharing of media content in a home network, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is emerging. The DLNA aims to build a platform ensuring inter-compatibility, based on industry standards. The DLNA, which is based on Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) technology, covers standardization of physical media, network transmission, media formats, streaming protocols, Digital Rights Management (DRM), etc. The DLNA is expected to introduce guidelines based on industry standards such as IP, HTTP, UPnP and Wi-Fi which are widely used for home appliances, PCs, wireless devices, etc. Devices designed according to the DLNA guidelines are allowed to freely share various kinds of media content including music, pictures and videos over a home network.
Where various devices in customer premises share such media content, there is a need to allow users to more easily and conveniently operate devices connected to their home network.
The DLNA defines a Digital Media Server (hereinafter, referred to as “DMS”), a Digital Media Player (hereinafter, referred to as “DMP”), a Digital Media Renderer (hereinafter, referred to as “DMR”), and a Digital Media Controller (hereinafter, referred to as “DMC”), which are device classes sharing and controlling media over a home network.
Briefly, a DMS device serves to register and distribute local content in a network, and a DMP device serves to find content registered by the DMS device and plays the content on the player thereof. A DMR device receives and plays content according to a request from a DMC device, which finds the content registered by the DMS device. The DMC device establishes configurations for playback in the DMR device, and maintains connection between the DMR and DMS devices.
The DLNA standard defines three scenarios in relation to basic DLNA services. The DLNA service scenarios include 2-Box Push, 2-Box Pull and 3-Box scenarios.
FIG. 1A is an examplary diagram of basic DLNA service scenario illustrating a 2-Box Push scenario. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, a content of a device 110 is played on another device 120 and the device 110 serves as a DMS device.
FIG. 1B is an examplary diagram of basic DLNA service scenario illustrating a 2-Box Pull scenario. As illustrated in FIG. 1B, a principal device 130 plays media of another device 110 and serves as a DMP device.
FIG. 1C is an examplary diagram of basic DLNA service scenario illustrating a 3-Box scenario. As illustrated in FIG. 1C, a principal device 140 serving as a DMC device causes media of another device 110 to be played by yet another device 120.
To support such DLNA service scenarios, DLNA service applications are provided by, for example, individual multimedia device manufacturers. In order to make DLNA services for users, the DLNA service applications need to integrally support the three DLNA service scenarios above and to be equipped with an intuitive user interface.
FIG. 2A is an examplary diagram of a user interface with three separate pages of a DLNA service application.
As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the user interface with screen transitions implements active screen areas for selecting a media server, media content and a media player with three separate pages to perform the 3-Box scenario.
In this case, a configuration of the user interface requires the user to turn over several pages to perform the 3-Box scenario, which is a non-intuitive manner of presentation. Moreover, the inventor(s) has experienced that the user needs to keep the previous selections in memory while switching between pages, and returning to a previous step (previous page) risk initializing the previous selections.
FIG. 2B is an examplary diagram of a user interface with individual active screens of a DLNA service application. As illustrated in FIG. 2B, the user interface arranges individual active screen areas by three still frames such that a single page covers all operation steps (a media server selection, media content selection and media player selection) to be performed. In this style of the user interface, the inventor(s) has experienced that the fixed frame areas preclude securing a sufficient portion of the screen required for the user to have an adequate legibility of the critical content selection area.